Intermittent grip device.



L. C. POND & G. G. WAGNER.

INTERMITTBNT GRIP DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED APR.15, 1907.

949,304. Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VLINNAEUS c. POND, or LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. AND GEORGE c. WAGNER, or

DENVER, COLORADO.

INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, LINNAEUS C. POND, of Los Angeles, California, and GEORGE C. VAGNER, of Denver, Colorado, both citizens of the United States of America, have invented a new and useful Intermittent Gri Device, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to intermittent grip devices and particularly to that type which employs a ball coacting with a rotary and a gripping member for controlling the relativemovement of the rotary member, and the main'object of the present invention is to provide a device of that character in which the rotary member has a free movement in either direction when moved quickly, but which is arrested and locked against movement in one direction upon being moved slowly.

The device as shown in the drawings is particularly designed for use on shade rollers but it may be adapted to be employed in praeticallyany mechanism in which an illterniittent gripping or locking function is desired.

Referring to the drawings :Figure 1 is an end View of a shade roller, the end cap of the shade roller being in section. Fig. 2vis a sectional view of the end portion of a shade ipller, the View being taken on line m m The invention comprises two'members of which the outer member has a revoluble movement, with respect to the other; of one or more balls arranged intermediate said two \members, the inner member being provided main recess extends through an are, which i are embraces at least half of the circumferf ence of the associated ball.

In the drawing 1 designates a hollow shade roller, at the end of which is an individual washer 2 which forms a bearing for Serial No. 368.451.

carrying the roller 1 on the relatively stationary axis 3.

4 designates the usual coil spring for imparting motion to the shade roller, one end of the spring being attached to the roller 1 and its other end being attached to the shaft 3.

The end of the shaft 3 has the usual flattened end 5 which is received by the notch in the supporting bracket not shown. Formed on the shaft 3 is a flange 6 which is provided with two inclined recesses or seats 7. A sheet. metal cap 8 is fastened, preferably, by screws, to the end of the roller 1 and serves to house the operating parts of the device. Secured within the cap .8 is .a thick individual plate 9 of approximately cruciform shape and forming what may be termed the outer rotary member, which is provided with blind U-shaped radial pockets 10, either radial pocket being large enough to completely receive a ball 11 and each radial pocket having a side recess 12. The pockets 10 extend entirely through the plate 9 which will permit of the plate being stamped out of sheet metal and produced much cheaper and be less liable to breakage than if made from cast metal, as must be done where the pockets are formed as radial slots in the outer face of the .disk or plate. from thin sheet metal with a hole in its center only large enough for the passage of the axis 3, whereby the washer can be made very cheaply and forms one side of the pockets 10 while the cap 8 forms the other side, when the arts are assembled.

The shade which is indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 is normally held checked against upward movement by a ball 11 acting as a block between a recess 12 and a recess 7. One wall of each recess 7 is inclined as shown so that when the shade is pulled down in the direction of the arrow, Fi 1, the ball is caused by the adjacent ra ial pocket 10 to ride up the incline fully into the radial pocket. Then if the shade is allowed to rise quickly by the action of the spring, the rapid movement of the roller causes the balls to fly out and keep in the radial pockets so that clicking is avoided and the movement is smooth and noiseless. By slowing this u ward movement, aball when it arrives at t e top is allowed to drop The washer 2 can also be stampedand seat itself between recess 12 and recess 7 which checks further upward movement of the curtain. Thus it will be seen that the engagement of the balls with the gripping member is controlled by centrifugal force, the balls being held out of engagement by centrifugal force when the rotary member has a swift movement, but engaging the gripping member when the movement of the rotary member does not produce the sufiicient centrifugal force to throw out the balls. V

What we claim is Thecombination of a hollow roller, a relatively stationary shaft, an individual washer seating against the end of vthe roller and providing a bearing for the shaft, a coil springhaving its ends secured respectively to the roller and to the shaft, a flange located on the shaft and having two oppositely disposed tangential recesses each ,formed with a rounded ball seat, an indi vidual rotary plate of approximatel cruciform shape extending across the roller having a central opening receiving the flange and two 0 positely arranged blind U-sha e radial poc ets each formed with a roun ed side recess,'balls located in the radial pockets, and a cap confining the rotary oblong plate and balls against the washer.

' LINNAEUS C. POND.

GEORGE O. \VAGNER.

Witnesses to the signature of Linnaeus C. ,Pond:

GEORGE T. HAGKLEY, FRANK L. A. GRAHAM. Witnesses to the signature of George C.

Wagner:

MARION G. CARPENTER,

CHAS. H. SCOTT. 

